Human Help me decide how to spend a boatload of inducement money

G20

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In roughly 6 hours I have a playoff game vs. a 2330TV khemri team. I could not lay out the team exactly from memory but all TG have at least guard + MB. Only one of them has block. They have three total tacklers (both blitz-ra's and a st4 skeleton). The team is extremely bloated, IMO, with 7RR + 4 cheerleaders + 4 coaches, but the guy plays well so it's obviously been working for him. There are 13 total players and they have no DP. All this will be facing off against my 1270 humans team, Les Rois de France. We were much more developed but my last opponent before the playoffs and I were both already qualified and he decided to not even attempt to play ball and spent the whole game fouling his guys out (and getting lucky with the CAS dice). Anyways, that'll be a score to settle on another day. As best as I can recall, this is my team

blitzer Louis IX block, dodge, +MV, + AG
blitzer Philippe II block, dodge, guard, stand firm
blitzer Charlemagne block, guard
blitzer Louis XIV block, MB, PO, frenzy (-AG, MNG :( )
(side question for this guy: I had option of -AG or -MV, was this the right choice?)

thrower Clovis I sure hand, pass, block, tackle, accurate

catcher Francis II dodge, catch

lineman Charles le Gros kick (skill pending, 12 rolled...probably going with +ST :) but advice welcome)
lineman Louis XII block, tackle
lineman Eudes de Paris
lineman Raoul de France
lineman Jek the Fool (MNG)
lineman Henri III
3RR + APO
9ff

That leaves me with 10 healthy guys for this match. I have decent amount of cash in the bank so player purchases are an option. With the loner I'll get I'll have 970K to spend. We have extended inducements in this league, but cheering fans are banned. The two plans I've considered most heavily are:

430 Morg
270 Zara
150 wizard
100 babes(2)
add 2 cheerleaders


430 Morg
320 Oberwald
150 wizard
50 babes
add 2 cheerleaders

plan A seems the best, but I wonder how much use I'll get out of Zara when I'll be attempting to blitz with Morg every turn. Zara would give some redundancy if Morg were to go down or get tied up. Oberwald gives the option of another ball handler. I won't win this game by outhitting the guy, which makes Oberwald seem an attractive option. There is probably a better plan that I am not considering. AG potion for Louis IX and guard merc ogre are other things I'd like to fit in somehow.
 
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Lebe666

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7 RR?! WTF ?! This is really crazy... never seen such a huge difference. Good Luck.

I think Babes is a waste. Khemri means that you'll get one half only with Khemri receiving. You'd be better off getting a merc IMO. You'll have with 2 star players only 2 reserve players. I bet he is shit full of MB... so expect more cas...

Wizard - Good
Zara vs Undead is nice... do you tend to blitz with someone else?

Beyond that I've had few chances of getting inducements.
 

G20

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I'm on a break now so I can post the other guy's team

blitz ra block, regen, jump up, mb, tackle, frenzy
blitz ra block regen, strip ball, tackle, MB

skeleton block
skeleton block, tackle +1ST
skeleton blocK, MB
skeleton unskilled
skeleton block, dp
skeleton unskilled

thro-ra block, accurate, hail mary pass
thro-ra block, accurate

TG guard, mb,
tg (2) guard, mb, stand firm
tg block, mb, guard, stand firm



The TG don't have any break tackle , so I should be able to tie them down when I really have to. I wonder if it would be worth it to buy 4 linemen for just this purpose. It's a playoff game, so overtime will be in effect. Since we have extended inducements, I'll likely look to fire my wizard within the first two turns and hope to have it recharged in time to use a second time. My concern with Zara is that using her stab skill stops here where she stands. That'll likely result in a quick KO for her after one attempt. At least with Morg I can hit and move to a certain extent. If I take her, it'll be mostly as a backup plan for Morg..which I'm likely to need given all that MB.
 

Nikolai II

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Wizard, Zarah, Griff, and two bribes. (Or if you can get an ogre and a bribe ;)

Zarah blitzes any thro-ra or loose skeleton every turn she can't stab by standing still. Your ogre if you get one, else Griff can try blitzing if Zara is already stab-ready since the previous turn.

Griff is also your backup ballcarrier (Louis IX is your primary carrier)

Your goal is to kill or KO his skeletons and thro-ras. If he is down players faster than you go down he'll suffer. The guys you need to mark up with expendable linemen are the blitz-ras since they have both MB and Tackle. (OR you stab them)

And foul a skeleton every turn. Tomb Guards ain't worth fouling unless it is a really big gangfoul.
 

G20

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It has a base level of recharge, and causing CAS and scoring (maybe some other stuff, too) increases the rate of recharge. If my plan works and I can bring the game to OT, it'll likely have recharged at that point based on past experience.
 

Nikolai II

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Or if you don't like fouling, Zara, Griff, Wizard and buy an Ogre and a catcher seems like an option to get bench and some power.
 

G20

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I definitely considered the fouling option. I just felt like with his seven MB players to my 1 (if I take Morg or induce a merc ogre), along with all 14 of his guys having regen, my chance to get numerical advantage will be quite slim. In order to have expendable linemen, I'll have to spend 200K out of my 230K kitty. That would get me to 13 players, and leave me with (only) 820K in inducement money. Morg definitely becomes less attractive at that point. My thought on Morg vs. Zara is that Morg is going to hit harder and stay in the game longer. From what I've read, the +1 on Zara's stab applies only to the armor roll, while Morg will roll 3D blocks that pass AV7often enough to have that +1 to apply to injury. The failure rate on stab is high enough that sooner or later Zara will be left in a vulnerable position. Something I just considered is to buy 3 linos to get up to 12 players, which will put me at 870 inducements. I could take Morg, Zara, and a wizard. That'd leave 20K left to either upgrade a newbie lino to a catcher, or to buy two cheerleaders. I could also do merc guard ogre, zara, wizard, + two bribes. I kind of feel like Morg is too much of a badass to leave on the table, though. He seems more reliable than Zara.
 

Nikolai II

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Morg is a huge distraction, since he is big and strong and people will want to bash him down.

Zara is also a huge distraction, since her stabs are scary for skeletons.

So actually
Morg, Zarah, Wizard and buying an Ogre might also be a good idea. (Then a babe or +ag potion for your last 50k)

Zara marks someone, stabs next turn. Morg blitzes. Ogre is a backup for all that, and can also try to bash someone.

And if you can get both Blitzers on the same fireball during turn one or two, shoot. (Or both thro-ras, even better ;))
 

G20

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Morg, Zara, and wizard worked pretty well. We elected to receive and got a quick snap off the kick. That really helped to get the ball to Louis IX via a short pass and he ran it up behind the screen set up down the right flank. We also moved two of the three LOS guys off the line since the guys they would have been marking were too slow to get to the action. Turn 1 wizard knocked down all four guys it targeted but failed to so much as stun anyone, so that was less than ideal. The khemri got their DP sent off early in my drive fouling and stunning an unskilled lineman, which was a big relief. A failed dodge to an open square by catcher Francis II on turn 2 denied an opportunity to set up for a couple turns of stalling so we had to run it in for the score earlier than planned. Still, full marks to me for not getting suckered in to an ill advised stall as I am wont to do.

The khemri did a few moves and picked up the ball to start their drive but rerolled a block to :skull::bothdown: with a blockless TG on the LOS which created an opening to blitz their frenzy/tackle/MB blitz-ra with Morg. Morg got him down, but as per usual on this day, didn't even break armor. He must have worn himself bashing an orc team of mine on another field the day previous. :) Even still, this created an opening to send one of the new linos (Lothaire, IIRC) on a kamikaze run towards both thro-ra's who were sitting deep. The khemri decided to take what was apparently the safe option a turn or two later and use HMP to launch the ball upfield. I actually quite like this skill, but haven't had occasion to use it myself. The scatter on the throw left it just in range of Louis IX. Zara stabbed a blitz-ra down (stun) to leave a better opening for Louis IX to get at the ball with one GFI. I had done a risky 1d block to free up new hire lineman Philippe VI, to get downfield to receive a pass from Louis IX after the pickup. I feel this was probably a mistake since a pass to the open would have been nearly as effective. However, it worked out as Louis IX made the pickup with RR assist and completed the 3+ pass to Philippe VI. Having the ball in the hands of a potential scorer saved Louis IX from facing a blitz, but Philippe VI was blitzed down and had his ankle smashed in the process on the next turn. Mission accomplished those as the half ended 1-0.

Hiring the extra players was really key as I was able to line up 11 to start the 2nd half despite suffering a few CAS in the first half. We made our best effort at tying up the TG, and Morg played a huge role in this. His main contribution was mostly just being a big lump, and not so much taking guys off the field as I had hoped. We were evetually able to double mark the ball carrier thro-ra with a catcher Charles IX, and Louis IX. The catcher was blitzed down, and the khemri brought in an assist to push away Louis. However, this left an opportunity for a 1 dodge, 1 GFI blitz by Zara on the ball carrier. She nailed it, knocking the ball free and stunning the thro-ra. Louis IX dodged away to pick up the ball and threw it down field into open space. The khemri did eventually recover very late on with the HMP thro-ra, and I was down to 6 players on the field (only three of my own). He tried again to bomb the ball into an area where he had 5 or 6 of his guys, but the throw went out of bounds. The resulting throw in left the ball in 2 GFI range of Charles IX, who made the pickup near midfield and made a clearing throw. The game was out of reach at this point, but Charles IX ultimately survived a blitz attempt to dodge free, pick up the ball, and score on his debut! :pow:

Final score 2-0 to Les Rois!!

Damaged lilneman Philippe VI took the MVP
70K was won to take us back to 130 gold.
st4 kicker Charles le Gros will miss the next game
The other two CAS we took were fortunately only BH.
I have to say that I was extremely proud of this win since we scored only two KO and no CAS all game; both came very late in the second half. I generally struggle after getting out numbered. Morg and Louis IX really made the difference. Griff would have likely performed as well, if not better, than Zara; but, her lower cost left enough cash to hire the wizard.
 

Nikolai II

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Nice game, nice report. Good that it worked out. :)

What will you be facing next? And how many steps left until the final?
 

Lebe666

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Nice game ! Congrats on winning a tough match-up ! I thought Zara would be good... the wizard didn't recharge ?

What league is this ? I'm curious to see the replay.
 

G20

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Nice game, nice report. Good that it worked out. :)

What will you be facing next? And how many steps left until the final?

I have a 2310 TV dwarf team next. They have 4 ST4 dwarves...I HATE this team. I know some things now about playing dwarves that I didn't the last time I had to face them, but a dwarf team with effectively 4 black orcs is a real bitch. I'll post up the opposition later when I get the chance. There are 8 teams in the playoff (my game was a play-in), so I'll have to win two to reach the final. Potential semifinal opponent would be the orcs that griefed me on the last game of the regular season, so I hope to make it at least that far to exact some revenge. :mad:
 

G20

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Nice game ! Congrats on winning a tough match-up ! I thought Zara would be good... the wizard didn't recharge ?

What league is this ? I'm curious to see the replay.

Guess it would be bad form to deliberately conceal my player name, so now you will know if you watch the replay. I think the BBM league name is ibbb season 3 playoff (or something like that(ibbb part is definitely right). The wizard was recharged for turn 16. I actually didn't notice it until I was running in the final score. I would have used it out of spite since he was fouling Clovis to try to claim a bounty on his head, but for roleplaying reasons, I will say that Les Rois were feeling magnanimous in victory!
 
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Nikolai II

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It's the "Iron Breakers S3 - Play-Offs", league, and why he would be worried about becoming known is another question.

But it's pretty clear that just like me he's going under a different name in Cyanide than here. Hi G20 - see you in Fridays game :p
 

G20

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Dwarf :spit: opponent
(I'm just going to assume everyone knows the starter skills :)

runner block, dodge, fend, KOR, pro
runner block, kick, dodge, fend, leader

blitzer guard, mightly blow
blitzer guard, dauntless, MB

troll slayer MB, tackle, +1 ST
troll slayer MB, guard, pro +1 ST (giant target on his head :pow:)

blocker MB, guard, stand firm
blocker stand firm, guard, +1 ST (niggle)
blocker guard, sidestep
blocker sneaky git (to think we could have had another guard or MB player here :rolleyes:)
blocker guard
blocker stand firm +1 ST
blocker guard
blocker guard

8FF
4RR
APO
2 cheerleaders
2 coaches

2310TV total

My team is the same as last time but we get Louis XIV and Jek the Fool back. Philippe VI and Charles le Gros will sit this one out. 1520 TV, 13 healthy players, 120K to spend if necessary.
 

Nikolai II

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That's a lot of rookie linemen you have there. Considered sacking one?

I don't think you need to spend any money on players with a 15 player roster. Maybe an ogre later on, but save your money for now.

790 k inducements, Griff and a Wiz are 470k, leaving you with 320k for other stuff. One spare apo might be good, just to use on any BH hitting an important player. (Saving the other one for trying to save lives or careers)

Since you can't outstrength the dwarves, and his bench is so deep you can only outman him during a drive, I suppose your best bet is to outspeed him on offense and out-stall him on defense?
 
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